The UK automotive industry experienced a "staggering" 18 per cent increase in the number of personal injury claims as a result of road accidents in 2011, a new report revealed today.

The increase hit drivers hard in the pocket despite an 11 per cent fall in the number of road accidents on the nation’s roads. The report from the Actuarial Profession suggests this will mean a further increase in car insurance premiums.

The year-on-year increase in bodily-injury claims between 2010 and 2011 was the highest on record, leading to increased insurer costs of more than £400 million.

The report also suggested a possible correlation between the location of claims management offices and the handful of ‘hotspots’ for personal injury claims. Staggeringly, the high number of bodily-injury claims in the North West of England overtook the worst areas of the United States in terms of the proportion of accidents involving a bodily-injury claim.

David Brown, of the Actuarial Profession, said: "The increase in costs to insurers because of the rise in bodily-injury claims is likely to result in a rise in motor insurance premiums for drivers.

“The clear correlation between claims management companies’ office locations and the ‘hotspots’ for bodily injury claims suggests that the two are interlinked.

"We expect to see legislation coming soon which will affect the way in which claims management companies do business, which may account for the significant increase seen in 2011. It is possible this is a last hurrah.

"In 2010 the worst areas of the UK overtook the worst areas of the US in terms of the proportion of accidents involving bodily injury. It is disappointing to see this trend not only continue, but worsen in all regions with the exception of Scotland."

Every year two million vehicles are dismantled and recycled due to reaching end-of-life and following road accidents. With the Government keen to improve the wider environment at ASM Auto Recycling our modern 11-bay workshops allow us to conduct our vehicle dismantling with great detail.

Our process involves the removal and storage of potential toxins within accident-damaged vehicles such as fuels, oils and brake fluids. Vehicle scrappage is not as simply as casting aside the shell of a car for scrapping. At ASM we carefully retrieve, test and refurbish used car parts to ensure they can be used again in another vehicle, complete with our very own guarantees.